


If you put your mind to it...

by Jedflah



Category: Back to the Future (Movies)
Genre: Father-Son Relationship, Friends in Time, Gen, Minor weed mention, Oneshot, Pre-Canon, as a treat, marty can have some emotional support from doc
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-12
Updated: 2020-06-12
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:40:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24676288
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jedflah/pseuds/Jedflah
Summary: Marty is on the brink of failing his physics class and comes to Doc for help. While learning the material, he also learns a bit more about Doc.
Relationships: Emmett "Doc" Brown & Marty McFly
Comments: 7
Kudos: 53





	If you put your mind to it...

**Saturday March 23, 1985, 12:10 PM**

The grinding of Marty’s skateboard wheels could barely be heard over his music. He was listening to Joan Jett that day which could only mean one thing: he was particularly angry or frustrated (or both) at something. Detention had dismissed him early that day for “good behavior.” _‘Psh. Yeah right, they just got tired of having to babysit,’_ he thought.

Without realizing it, Marty found himself outside Doc’s house. He had already spent so much time there anyway, it seemed natural that his instincts brought him here while the more rational side of him took a backseat. He picked up his skateboard and went to knock on the door.

A few muffled clatterings and barks from Einstein later, Doc answered and let Marty inside. “I thought you had detention today.” Doc’s tone was neutral. He never tried to antagonize Marty or make him feel like he had to lie. He figured the boy already got enough of that at home.

“They let me go early. I was only there for tardies anyway. Besides, the other kids were planning to break out some weed once Strickland had left to sit in his office, and you know I don’t touch that stuff.” Marty set his skateboard and backpack in their usual places by the door and threw himself face-down on Doc’s couch.

Concerned, Doc pulled up a chair and sat down. “Is there something that’s bothering you?”

“No, I’m completely fine. Everything’s peachy!” he huffed. Silence fell between the two as Marty just lay there with his face in one of the pillows. Eventually, he sat up again and held his head in his hands. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have snapped like that. I’m just so tense right now!”

“Don’t worry about it. Believe me, I’ve had my fair share of being yelled at in my life, and plenty of struggles with high school,” Doc said. He remained calm with an even tone. “So what do you think is making you so tense?”

“Well,” Marty moved a hand to cover his neck, “I’m this close to failing physics, and if I don’t pass, then that means summer school, and they don’t pay for air conditioning during the summer.”

“Is this the only class you’re struggling with?”

“Well, the only one I’m close to failing. I’m passing trig, but only because Jennifer has been such a great tutor.”

Doc nodded. “So why not ask her to help you with your physics class?”

“Aw jeez, I couldn’t do that to her. She already has to put up with me needing explanations every five seconds on every problem. It’s a wonder she hasn’t broken up with me yet.”

“You still court her though, correct?”

Marty looked up at Doc with confusion.

“You still take her on dates?” he clarified.

“Oh! Yeah we go out every Sunday. Tomorrow we’re gonna go see _Ladyhawke_ or something. I swear she likes Matthew Broderick more than me,” Marty said with a chuckle.

“Well I’m happy for you two. Now, let’s return to the matter at hand.”

Marty cleared his throat. “Right, so, anyway I don’t wanna put that much strain on Jennifer by having her tutor me in physics too. I’ve tried studying by myself, but nothing I try works. I’ve read the textbook, highlighted key terms, taken my own notes, _studied_ those notes, and I’ve tried flashcards even! Every time I feel like I’m ready for a quiz or test, I blank in class! It’s like I’m being set up to fail.”

“And what does your teacher think of all this? I’m assuming you’ve spoken to them about your struggles?”

Marty looked away. “He says I’m unteachable.”

Doc’s eyes widened. “He said _that_ to you? He didn’t even offer to help?”

Marty shook his head. 

“What was his name again?”

“Doc, please don’t harass him-”

“No, I’m not going to harass him, Marty. Please give me _some_ credit. I just want to know his name.”

“If you say so. It’s Dr. Wallow, but he’s like that with everyone. He has this superiority complex just ‘cause he’s got a doctorate or whatever,” Marty said.

“He might just be frustrated he’s not teaching in a university or doing actual research, but that’s no excuse to treat his students like that!” Doc looked over at Marty’s backpack and saw it was full with presumably his textbook, notebook, and whatever forgotten things from previous years sat stuffed under old graded homework. “Y’know, I used to teach physics at Caltech in the 40s.”

Marty instantly looked back at Doc. “Could you tutor me?” he pleaded.

Doc could hear the desperation in Marty’s voice, so he simply responded with a nod, to which he received a hug in return.

“I promise I’ll try to not be unteachable!”

“Marty, no one is unteachable! Mark my words, if I ever cross paths with this physics teacher of yours, I have a few choice words for him. Now, what areas are you having the most trouble with?”

Marty stood up and scratched his head. “Uh, is it bad if I say I’m struggling with everything?”

For the rest of the day, Doc had been essentially teaching Marty the entirety of the course material (even topics from the previous semester). After every hour, they took short ten minute breaks to talk or think about literally anything else, but over time, Marty had been ignoring breaktime more and more.

“While I appreciate your interest in the subject, I must advise you to save that enthusiasm for designated study time,” Doc said.

“What?”

“Take a break! You’ve earned it, Marty,” Doc said with a smile.

“Alriiiight, fine.” Marty set down his textbook and stretched out his arms. “But I’m still having trouble with this part right here-”

Doc held up his hand. “Please, Marty. We’ll be back to it in a few minutes; I can answer your question then. Tell me about your day! You’ve never ended up in Saturday detention before. How was that?”

Marty laughed a little.

“What?”

“Nothing, I just never thought anyone would _want_ to know how my time in detention was. Eh, I guess it was alright. It was too quiet, though. Usually after school detention has some kind of white noise since we’re in a classroom, but they have Saturday detention in the library. Tiff was there again, but I think she just goes to detention now ‘cause it beats being at home,” he said.

“Like how you spend more time here than at home?”

“Yeah, well, at least we do stuff over here. They don’t even let us do homework or sleep during detention. Almost makes me feel bad for her.” Marty stiffened up. “Don’t tell my dad I said that. That’s like, violating one of the fundamental laws of the universe or something. Matter can’t be created or destroyed, just converted, and McFlys and Tannens aren’t supposed to get along.”

“Don’t worry, that will remain confidential,” Doc reassured.

“Thanks.” Marty tapped his pencil against the table. “Is the break over yet?”

“Hardly, but since you’re so eager to learn more, sure.” Doc looked over at the textbook. “Now what was your question?”

“How do I tell the difference between convection, conduction, and radiation?”

“Right,” Doc nodded, “think of a pot of water boiling on the stove. The pot heats up because it’s directly on the burner. That’s conduction. If it helps, just remember they both have the -ct sound in them: direct and conduct.”

Marty had scribbled a doodle of a pot on a stove with the burner labelled with, “conduCTion is direCT.” 

“Radiation is the heat that can be felt in the surrounding air without touching anything. When you put your hand over the pot, you can still feel the heat even though you’re not touching the pot or the water. It’s _radiating_ out.”

“Got it. And convection? How do I remember that?”

Doc rubbed his chin for a moment before explaining, “Convection is when the hot water would rise and the cold water falls. The water at the top is being cooled by the air which makes it fall down to the bottom of the pot where it’s heated up again. I want you to draw circles in the air whenever I or anyone else says, ‘convection’ from now on.”

Marty’s eyebrows knitted together. “Really?”

“Yes, really. Trust me, it helps.

“Hey, you’re the doc, Doc.”

With the new mnemonics learnt, they continued to work through the book until they caught up with where Marty was in class. It was well past midnight when they got to that point, but Marty had insisted that they not stop until he felt good enough to go back to school on Monday. He had been writing so much, his pencil was down to the metal holding the eraser, his pen was running dry, and Doc had to lend him a wrist brace. 

“Thanks again for all your help, Doc. I feel like I really understood all of that for once.” He let out a chuckle. “Hell, you could probably explain time travel to me and I’d still understand.”

“Well, I had plenty of years of experience. Like I said, I used to teach up at the college. Albeit, the material was a bit different back then, but science is all about evolving ideas while still holding true to the laws that hold it in place,” he said.

Marty retreated to the cot Doc kept set up for him when his stays ran late. “Hey Doc, can I ask a stupid question?”

“There’s no such thing as a stupid question, Marty. Please don’t say things like that. But, ask away!”

“Right, right. I was just thinking, though, are you ever worried that you’re wrong about something? I mean, you said it yourself today that science is all about making mistakes and learning from them, but,” he rubbed the back of his neck, “aren’t you ever afraid that _you’re_ gonna be the next one to make a mistake? Do you ever worry that something you thought you were right about for so long ends up not being true?”

Doc paused and looked over at an untouched pile of yellowed paper shreds on his desk. “I’ll be honest with you, Marty. I’ve been wrong about a lot of things. Not just about science even. Sure, I’ve had inventions and experiments fail and blow up in my face, who hasn’t? What took me longer to come to terms with was, well, my preconceptions about people.”

Marty propped himself up on his elbow. “What do you mean?”

Doc sat down in a chair. “You know I wasn’t much for friends when I was your age, but I had just assumed that people wouldn’t want to be friends with me anyway. Not even the other, er what was that word you called your father again?”

“A geek?”

“Right. Not even the other ‘geeks’ at school with me were really my friends. They were more concerned with blaming their lack of romantic interactions on the women who rejected him while I was busy working towards real scientific breakthroughs!

“But then that all changed around thirty years ago. I met someone that changed my life forever. They showed me that things would get better for me and that I could do great things if I put my mind to it. For the first time, I really felt like I had a friend. A friend that seemed to know me better than I knew myself.

“They proved me wrong, though. I was starting to give up and burn out. I came up with the most outlandish idea, and I thought it would never work, but they proved me wrong.”

“Did your idea work after all?”

Doc smiled. “Well, to be honest, I’m still seeing that idea through. They proved me wrong about people, Marty. There are people out there willing to listen to you and support you, you just have to look for them.”

“How did you feel though? When you found out you were wrong?” Marty asked.

“It stung at first as it always does. But, I learned how to terms with it. There’s nothing wrong with realizing your mistakes, Marty. All it means is that you’ve learned and grown as a person. Of course, there are some that believe they’re never wrong even with presented evidence of the opposite.”

“Like Nixon!”

Doc laughed. “Yes, like Nixon.” He looked over at his large collection of clocks. “Great Scott! Is that really the time? You should get to sleep unless you’d rather sleep through the movie tomorrow, er, later today.”

“Hey if it means I don’t have to watch my girlfriend fawn over that _War Games_ kid, I’ll gladly sleep through the movie.”

**Friday April 5, 1985, 3:15 PM**

Marty rushed into Doc’s house and flung his backpack on his cot. “Doc! Doc! You’ll never believe what happened today!”

Trying not to drop the soldering iron he was holding, Doc said, “Try me.”

He held up a packet of papers. “I got a B plus on my physics test! That’s the highest grade in that class I’ve had all year!”

Doc set down the iron. “That’s great, Marty! I’m proud of you. I know how hard you worked for this.”

“Eh, it was easy! Guess he finally felt sorry for all of us and gave us a break.”

Doc stood up and walked over to look at the test Marty was holding. “It doesn’t look to be any different than the tests you’ve already taken, at least difficulty-wise.”

“Well, it felt a hell of a lot easier.”

“That means you learned the material and remembered the information.” Doc flipped through the pages. “Y’know your teacher graded a few of these wrong. You would’ve gotten an A if he did it right.”

“Wait, he what?” Marty took back the test and looked at the questions marked wrong. “Son of a- I _knew_ I got those right!”

“But you can yell at him about it on Monday. I think this calls for a celebration! It’s good to reward yourself after accomplishing something.”

“Well, it wasn’t all me. If it hadn’t been for you, I would have never passed that test even if my teacher wasn’t out to get me, _apparently_.”

Doc brought out two bottles of Pepsi from his fridge. “I can’t take all the credit for your success, Marty. I only taught you the material, but I couldn’t learn it all for you. I couldn’t remember it all for you, and I certainly couldn’t take the test for you. 

“In all honesty, Marty, I think you’re smarter than you think you are, and you’re certainly smarter than whatever your teachers may think. I know how much Strickland likes to throw around ‘slacker’ at you, but he doesn’t know how much time and effort you put in to get this.”

Marty took a few sips from his Pepsi and stared at the floor. “Do you really mean what you say?”

“About what?”

“Y’know that thing you’re always telling me, uh, ‘If you put your mind to it-’”

“‘-you can accomplish anything’? Of course I do!”

Marty nodded. “Do you really think it applies to me?”

“I don’t just think so, I know so.”

He took another swig of his drink and smiled at Doc. “Thank you. For believing in me. For never giving up on me. It,” he sniffled, “really means a lot, y’know.” Marty went in for another hug and nearly spilled his Pepsi. Doc of course, was used to it (both the hugs and spilled drinks). 

He in turn gave Marty two gentle pats on his back. “Of course. Any time.”

**Author's Note:**

> So this was kinda based on a dream I had last year when I was stressing over finals. Shout out to my astronomy professor who will probably never see this? But she reminds me greatly of Doc and I miss her so damn much. She's not dead, I just graduated. And yes, the convection mnemonic really does help. Anyway! Sometimes you just gotta project on fictional characters and write them having a found family to cope???


End file.
